Option; Toddlers/No Toddlers

What is it with me and babies/toddlers and airplanes???

Dear airline operators, I'd like to suggest you introduce a new product or service. An option to non-leisure travelers/passengers if they mind flying in an airplane that also carry families with toddlers aged below 5 regardless of gender.

Please, I don't hold grudges against this age group, what more their families. I too was once a toddler. I too once had toddlers...now, they are both tweens. I just want to enjoy the flight without having my seat kicked non-stop throughout the journey, without having sticky fingers patting my head once in a while with no firm reprieve from their parents (smiling or laughing it off ain't a reprieve, parents!), without screams and yells of restlessness from these young lungs, without temper tantrums for being told to sit in their seats...

And please, this service is certainly NOT discriminatory in action. On the contrary. It is merely giving an option, a choice to non-leisure/business passengers at the point of making their reservations. In fact, open this to leisure travelers, too. I'm pretty sure they'll welcome this option, too.

Just consider this idea...pretty please???

Rings that make the chain...

So bibik did not alight from the flight we booked her from Jogjakarta to LCCT on 15 September 2012. Was I mad? Was I angry? Was I upset? No, nope, naw. And neither was Hanafy. So were we expecting this? Also nope. Its just that, we went to the airport not expecting anything. Or better still, we went to the airport expecting anything!

I would be lying if I say that my emotions were not affected. In spite of her shortcomings which were plentiful, in spite of my not being as close to her as I was with the previous 2 helpers i.e. Yam & Nuzul, she did make life for me as a Work-From-Home-Mum easy. And she has been doing that for me, for us, almost 7 years.

On reflection, maybe bibik's not coming back was coming. A few days before her departure to Jogja, the cooking gas of the wet kitchen stove ran out. We decided not to buy a replacement just yet since in her absence, no one cooks in the wet kitchen. And last night, my hand accidentally knocked over a herb bottle that fell off the shelf and hit against a mug from the mug stand.

In the fall, that herb bottle remained in-tack. The mug? A huge chunk broke off, only 1 piece mind you, and the piece that broke is where one would drink out of. Ironically, that was bibik's mug.

Immediately Raihanah, who was in the kitchen with me when this happened, remarked that God is confirming something to me!
  

The Puzzle Pieces Will Fit...

We had 2 slots of outstation training during this period of no-bibik, both confirmed way before the aidil fitri break. With my mum due to have her eye operated on in that period, we had no choice but to call in for back-up from Singapore.

MIL took the train over accompanied by SIL # 3, with a cough. That took a turn for the worst after a spread of ketupat palas and pulut durian at Zirah's open house. That cough triggered her asthma. 2 clinics and 2 times on the nebuliser did not lessen her coughs. We started to worry - how can we then leave her to fend for the children in our absence? In her unwell condition?

When she went over to spend some days with SIL#1 in Gombak, SIL#1's hubby decided to take her along to Tawakal Hospital where she had an x-ray of her chest, blood test and the works. It seems her nose had water/liquid that lead to the coughs and all. So she's now better, and ready to roll so to speak. In fact, in spite of the coughs and asthma wheezing and all, she managed to get her hair cut and permed, and walked to the nearby shop in Gombak to get tudungs for her friends back home. All part of her ritual when she's here for any visits.

And our household? Allah has other plans. Better plans. The day MIL's cough worsened, I got news the 2 slots of outstation training has been postponed to the following month, when we are back to having bibik in the house. No doubt, this means a much felt dent in our income stream, but I am leaving that to Allah to fit in the puzzle pieces where He knows they belong...have faith in Allah's plans. 

Whose plan is this...?

MIL made her signature oats cookies and as expected, packed a bottle for my mum and one for my brother, Alang as he is fondly referred to. All these she sent up via my SIL and family who had gone back to Singapore for the aidil fitri break.

I didn't have the heart to tell MIL that the one bottle she baked and packed for Alang last aidil fitri had remained intact, seal still unbroken and still on the counter top where we had placed it.

As for my mum, well I didn't know how would I get her bottle of cookies over since from what we can see, there are no immediate or not-immediate plans of anyone going up north for work or leisure. And I wouldn't want to that bottle of oats cookies to go to waste, too.

Lo and behold, a few days later my sister called to tell us that she will be driving down with her husband, over the Merdeka weekend just to spend some time with her children. And us, of course. 

MasyaAllah, how cool it this? So my mum will get her oats cookies after all...

And whose plan is this? 

Redha...Acceptance in Peace

This morning I called this consultancy to follow up on the status of a payment owing to me. I had completed the program more than a month ago, and payment is delayed more than 10 days from the due date.

I had been following up with them since last week, every time I was told to call back the next day for a definite date to collect my cheque.

Today, the girl whom I had been liaising with asked that I speak to their big boss. I had an uneasy feeling about this and my feelings were justified. He asked me to call him back later...much much later, as in 2 weeks from today! Even then, he said he will try to get a cheque ready for me ~ it seems they have problems with their cash flow.

Initially I was angry. And frustrated. And disappointed. And immediately blurted out that I will never work with them again, ever. Fortunately, my husband who was with me, comforted me with a gentle reminder. Do not be hasty with what comes out of your mouth; rezeki is Allah to give. You never know, one day you might find yourself begging them for a job/assignment, if that is Allah's will!

And when I turned on my laptop, there among the earlier posts on a friends' face-book wall is a reminder on what makes us late in receiving our rezeki...

What do you expect, really?

So last night was the much anticipated though not by me, Anugerah Juara Lagu (AJL26) event that has become synonym with Malaysia's 1st private television station, TV3.

And for the 1st time, we watched the telecast from start to finish. As expected, we also got to read equally live 'broadcasts' of comments and updates on the walls of facebook friends.

Interesting though some may be, here I just want to touch on those who posed this as their fb status..."Between catching live telecast of AJL26 and a livestream of a religious talk/spending quality time with your children/attending your regular religious class etc., which would you choose?".

In most cases, you can guess the inclination of those who post this type of questions. Yet the comments that volley between them and their circle of friends following their status do little to reflect the kind of causes and lifestyle they advocate. In all likelihood, they come across as belittling those who chose to catch AJL26 over the other.

So my question to them is, what do you hope to achieve with that kind of questions, or any similar remarks?

See it for it is...

Why do we always try to look beneath, behind, inside and around every issues thrown our way and complicate matters?

We always think we know how another person feels, or think. If a person is happy, just accept that that person is happy and be happy for them. Lets not speculate that that person is actually hiding sadness and loneliness just because that person's life looks like it is not as terrific as what it should be.

Take things for what they are. Take things for what they seem. Not everything is a bed of roses, so learn to live with that. But just take what you see and what you see!

If your own life sucks, then that's just too bad...